Kings: “Let’s Judge!”

“Kings” has moved to Saturdays, thanks to its low ratings, which is unfortunate because I think this was the best episode yet. Maybe that’s because the focus was less on David and more on the Benjamins and the disfunction that is the Gilboan royal family.

As is true in most dramas, the good, earnest characters are the most boring to watch. David is a good man, but there is only one way his stories can turn out. Meanwhile, Jack Benjamin is a train wreck, and I enjoy every scene he’s in. Sebastian Stan has mastered the art of looking tortured without looking weak. He is close to tears, but does not whine. He argues, but does not screech. Jack does not do nice things, but yet he’s still sympathetic because you see that jealous little boy trying to prove that he is (insert kingly characteristic of the episode here) to his father. Personally, we could have the Jack and Silas show, and that would be all right by me.

The episode is about “Judgement Day” where citizens can petition the king for redress, and he will choose 10 to hear and make judgement on. They cover various topics, but one has dropped out. Will the substitute be Michelle and her boring health care bill that her father keeps ignoring, or will it be David’s brother Ethan found guilty of treason and facing the death penalty? Silas has already told David that he can’t help unless the case reaches him this way, but hey, how about a Medal of Valor to ease your mind!

Sneaky bastard Jack plays puppetmaster with Katrina’s help, and Michelle realizes a little too late that her brother is playing she and David against each other. The best scene since the pilot comes when she confronts Jack about it. We learn that they are twins and Michelle is four minutes older, and Jack wonders if she would challenge him for the crown. She says no, but he sees how she looks at David, the king’s darling, and he knows he’s one wedding away from losing everything. He is fighting for his right to exist, and after everything he’s given up (which we, but not Michelle, know what he really means by this), he is not going to be sacrificed for David’s ambition.

Michelle then goes to David, perhaps out of guilt over Jack’s reaction, and says that Katrina will help Ethan if he will come out against Silas and the Port Prosperity plan. Maybe for a second David thinks about it, but we all know that he won’t go against Silas. Jack is livid and tells Katrina to have the judge push for the death penalty.

I’m liking Katrina. She’s not the complete ambition whore I thought she was. She feels guilty over Jack’s actions regarding Ethan, especially given that David wouldn’t be blackmailed. Jack might also be feeling a tad guilty, as he gets a little drunk and then propositions his bodyguard, whom I assume is not a stranger to Jack’s advances, given the veiled come-ons, a shared look or two and that the guy followed Jack into his building.

Silas must have realized something was up with Ethan’s sentencing because he tells David that his brother has been moved to a minimum-security facility to serve a term of six months, assuming his newfound feelings of remorse are true. It was amusing when David hugs him; Silas doesn’t quite know how to react (a king wouldn’t hug back) and David realizes he’s made a bit of a faux pas. Then, David makes a typical David statement: he wasn’t sure if there was a god, but now he knows God works through Silas. The king certainly likes that conclusion.

Then, we find out why Michelle keeps pulling out of romantic clinches with David. Sure, she feels the same way he does, but she’s promised to someone else. Was that supposed to be a surprise? Maybe to no one but David, who seems to be pretty naive about these things.

And what was the point of Macaulay Culkin’s appearance as Andrew Cross, William’s son called back from exile? Is he going to figure into future episodes, because I didn’t get it. And why did his father find a woman’s shoe in his room? Hmmm….